First planned Cabinet meeting for Teesworks authority since critical report cancelled due to "no substantive agenda items"

It was to be the first time the Cabinet had met after the Teesworks report commissioned by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove was published. The report investigated the governance and financial dealings of TVCA, its subsidiary South Tees Development Corporation, and Teesworks Ltd, in relation to the enormous regeneration project they are responsible for on the former Redcar steelworks site.

The report provided 28 recommendations for improvement, and was highly critical on issues relating to governance and transparency, saying, “a number of decisions taken by the bodies involved did not meet the standards expected when managing public funds.”

Labour’s Redcar and Cleveland Council leader Alec Brown, who is on the TVCA Cabinet, wrote to Lord Houchen and TVCA CEO Julie Gilhespie on Saturday demanding the meeting is re-instated “with a full agenda relating to the report and recommendations.”

He called the decision to cancel the meeting “bizarre”, asking, “how can we learn and move on from the report if we are not even discussing it?”

Meanwhile Stockton-on-Tees Council leader, Bob Cook of Labour, told The Yorkshire Post of his “surprise” to learn the meeting had been cancelled. He said he intends “to speak to the council's legal officers to see how we can ask for an emergency cabinet meeting before the election.”

When challenged by a constituent on his personal Facebook page about the cancellation, Lord Houchen replied: “There are no decisions to make. We could have a meeting where there’s no decisions and no items on the agenda, but [it] doesn’t seem sensible to me.”

On publication of the review, Michael Gove wrote to Lord Houchen asking to be provided “with an initial report by 8 March on how you intend to respond to the Panel’s recommendations.”

Lord Houchen downplayed the significance of this on his Facebook page, writing: “There’s a huge misconception that the 8th is some big date. It’s not. It’s the start of a process”.

A meeting of the Hartlepool Development Corporation scheduled later today, and chaired by Lord Houchen. will be given information about the response to the Teesworks report. TVCA’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee is due to be given the same report on Thursday.

Meeting agendas show TVCA intends to establish a cross-authority working group “to consider and approve the response to report recommendations,” as well as to take “a comprehensive review of the recommendations”.

Recommended actions will be submitted to the Cabinet’s Annual General Meeting. A date has not yet been set for this meeting, although it’s expected it will take place after May’s election where Lord Houchen is seeking a third term in office.